{"id":1,"date":"2026-08-28T18:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T18:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/?p=1"},"modified":"2026-10-02T21:19:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T21:19:43","slug":"hello-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/hello-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 1 Semester Kickoff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">TL; DR<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-smallbig-font-size\">Summer website model (aidolworld.ai) bake-offs done<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-smallbig-font-size\">In addition to<strong> technology<\/strong> and <strong>narrative design<\/strong> pillar, we decided to add an <strong>economy<\/strong> as a third pillar.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-smallbig-font-size\">Engine pinned: <strong>Unity 6.0 (6000.0.82f1)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-pale-pink-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Please read project overview <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/about\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"90\">here<\/a> before continuing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">\u00b7       \u00b7       \u00b7<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We didn&#8217;t start from zero.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Over the summer we built a web prototype at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aidolworld.ai\/\">aidolworld.ai<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 the idol-training loop in its simplest possible form, running on real APIs end to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code has-lightpink-color has-transparent-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-2\" style=\"padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);font-size:14px\"><code><strong>Interview -&gt; Image Generation -&gt; Music Production -&gt; Debut Performance Stage<\/strong><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Then we handed it to twenty or thirty friends and classmates, and watched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1920 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1920\" controls src=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/WebPrototype.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>More than half of them asked if they could download their idol&#8217;s images and music.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s the finding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">There was barely any narrative in the summer build. No story. No stakes. No four-week arc. No economy. Just a loop and some generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">And over half the people who played it wanted to <strong>keep<\/strong> what came out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Players are possessive of their virtual assets and their virtual identity. The attachment forms far earlier, and far more cheaply, than we expected \u2014 and once it exists, people want to hold the artifact in their hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"557\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/aidolworld-gallery-1-1024x557.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-35\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/aidolworld-gallery-1-1024x557.png 1024w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/aidolworld-gallery-1-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/aidolworld-gallery-1-767x417.png 767w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/aidolworld-gallery-1-1536x835.png 1536w, https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/aidolworld-gallery-1-2048x1114.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What we changed because of it:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">If attachment is the thing that reliably happens, the design job is to build <strong>for ownership<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">So, we came back with a third pillar:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Pillar<\/th><th>Status<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Narrative design<\/td><td>Continuing from spring<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>AI pipeline<\/td><td>Continuing from spring<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Economy<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>New this semester<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">We don&#8217;t only want to document <em>how<\/em> a small team builds an AI-driven game. We want to document whether it can <strong>pay for itself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">\u00b7       \u00b7       \u00b7<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">About the money<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Everything above was self-funded.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The summer prototype, every bake-off, every exploratory generation, out of Cheryl&#8217; own pockets, before the semester started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">This semester we&#8217;ve requested <strong>$7,000+ from the CMU Entertainment Technology Center.<\/strong> It&#8217;s submitted and in review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th><\/th><th>Amount<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Part 1 \u2014 Team Efficiency Subscriptions<\/td><td>~$3,917<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Part 2 \u2014 API\/playtest caps<\/td><td>~$3,090\u2013$3,650<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Total ask<\/td><td>~$7,007\u2013$7,567<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">\u00b7       \u00b7       \u00b7<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Weekly Progress Report<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/aidol-week-1-public.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of aidol-week-1-public.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-680a69de-b06d-47ed-90a7-295499844e0c\" href=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/aidol-week-1-public.pdf\">aidol-week-1-public<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/aidol-week-1-public.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-680a69de-b06d-47ed-90a7-295499844e0c\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meeting Notes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">On the game<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Three systems are still undesigned:<\/strong> character attributes, fan growth, lucky events.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Balance skill against luck.<\/strong> Players need their own effort <em>and<\/em> lucky moments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Quantify the pleasure.<\/strong> He wants a table: which mechanics and which visuals actually produce a rush.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-smallbig-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">On the road ahead:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Opening a conversation with <strong>Suno<\/strong> about a possible collaboration <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Start preparing for <strong>SXSW<\/strong> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Start early on the continuation pitch \u2014 progress is what determines approval<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TL; DR Please read project overview here before continuing. \u00b7 \u00b7 \u00b7 We didn&#8217;t start from zero. Over the summer we built a web prototype at aidolworld.ai \u2014 the idol-training loop in its simplest possible form, running on real APIs end to end. Then we handed it to twenty or thirty friends and classmates, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":363,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/aidol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}